Meet Our Team
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Emi Yamasaki McLaughlin is a Washington State Licensed Midwife (LM). She earned her Master's in Midwifery from Bastyr University in 2012. Emi is a professional member of the Midwives' Association of Washington State.
Emi is committed to building a more just and equitable system around birth. She strives to make midwifery care more accessible to communities of color, teens, LGBTQIA folks, and other marginalized identities by ensuring her clients feel safe, seen, and supported while under her care. Emi also works passionately to see these identities reflected in midwifery and birth worker professions through preceptorships and community activism.
Her Master's thesis focused on increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of direct-entry midwives.
When she's not supporting birthing people, Emi enjoys karaoke, baking and snuggling her two cats.
Emi is committed to building a more just and equitable system around birth. She strives to make midwifery care more accessible to communities of color, teens, LGBTQIA folks, and other marginalized identities by ensuring her clients feel safe, seen, and supported while under her care. Emi also works passionately to see these identities reflected in midwifery and birth worker professions through preceptorships and community activism.
Her Master's thesis focused on increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of direct-entry midwives.
When she's not supporting birthing people, Emi enjoys karaoke, baking and snuggling her two cats.
Brittni Blanco is an aspiring midwife, avid foodie, and is keen on finding the next world music record to fill her collection. She is a Health Educator and Birth Assistant at Journey Midwife Services. She is passionate about continually decolonizing maternity care and creating spaces where families feel more safe and free to talk about their bodies and everything pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.
Greetings and Bula kindered souls, my name is LeChante' Raiwalui. I am a Health Educator with Journey Midwife Services and Birth Doula. My lineage comes from the Fiji islands and I also have southern roots in Geiroga! What brought me to birth work was becoming a mother and with my first pregnancy I could not put to words why I sat in the hospital holding this precious person but also holding feelings of betrayal and unfamiliarity due to lack of support, knowledge and inconsistencies in my birthing experience. 5 years later I was blessed to be able to make the journey of life giving once again. We planned for an assisted home birth in the middle of the pandemic *cue dramatic music* and during that time I trained as a birth doula. When my son decided it was time to come earth side, I WAS TERRIFIED and my midwife was sure that she would miss my birth. So, I labored alone with my 5 year old daughter and her father came just in time to catch our son! I left this experience full hearted and complete because I had the information and support to create my pretty much ideal birth. The power, grace and extreme connection with my femininity that came with the liberation from programmed thoughts and ideas about pregnancy and birth is what I wish to share and build within our community here in Seattle, Washington!
I’m Elizabeth. I’m a lactation professional (Indigenous Breastfeeding Counselor, Lactation & Postpartum Educator - Life After Baby, IBCLC), a postpartum doula, a perinatal mental health advocate, a retired professional chef and eternal food justice advocate. I’m the mother of two sparkling human beings, the spouse of my high school sweetheart.
I’m a member of the urban Native American and Latinx diaspora, a proud descendent of the Anishinaabe people of Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians. My shift from seed-to-table cooking to birth and lactation work was born from my personal struggles through my first child’s first year. After battling birth trauma, low milk supply, a failure to thrive diagnose, a hidden tongue tie, triple feeding, barriers to care and ensuing postpartum mood disruptions, I realized that birthing people and their families deserve better. Humans are not meant to do this in isolation, or even in partnerships.
Part of my current personal journey is actively decolonizing my life, and I feel that restoring supportive community to families is a key part of that. Every time folks come together in collaboration and support, we create strong medicine and restore the connection and strength that our families need to thrive. I'm over the moon to join the team at Journey Midwives to provide Supportive Pregnancy Care and lactation support to the incredible birthing families in our community. This work weaves us back together, and I'm honored to be a thread in this beautiful tapestry of humanity.
I’m a member of the urban Native American and Latinx diaspora, a proud descendent of the Anishinaabe people of Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians. My shift from seed-to-table cooking to birth and lactation work was born from my personal struggles through my first child’s first year. After battling birth trauma, low milk supply, a failure to thrive diagnose, a hidden tongue tie, triple feeding, barriers to care and ensuing postpartum mood disruptions, I realized that birthing people and their families deserve better. Humans are not meant to do this in isolation, or even in partnerships.
Part of my current personal journey is actively decolonizing my life, and I feel that restoring supportive community to families is a key part of that. Every time folks come together in collaboration and support, we create strong medicine and restore the connection and strength that our families need to thrive. I'm over the moon to join the team at Journey Midwives to provide Supportive Pregnancy Care and lactation support to the incredible birthing families in our community. This work weaves us back together, and I'm honored to be a thread in this beautiful tapestry of humanity.
